WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS PROFANE LANGUAGE

This video captures a potentially lethal encounter! A Redlight Wrecker tow truck driver was shot at with a semiautomatic handgun while attempting to tow an illegally parked Ford truck from an apartment complex in Southwest Houston.

While the driver attempted to load the vehicle onto the wrecker, the vehicle's owner and companions angrily stormed the scene. Someone threw a bottle at the tow truck, and then the highly agitated, verbally abusive vehicle owner pulled out a gun and started firing, shooting at the driver four times. Two of the bullets tore through the tow truck cab, with one penetrating the driver’s seat. That bullet was stopped by a small steel crossbar in the seat, preventing the driver from taking a direct hit--and perhaps saving his life.

The entire scene was captured by Safety Vision’s RouteRecorder 4C mobile digital video recorder (MDVR) and SV-620A rear-view color cameras. We hope that the Safety Vision cameras and recorded video may help the police identify, capture, and prosecute the perpetrators.

The Redlight wrecker also is equipped with an SV-CLCD-70 quad-screen monitor; the monitor streams live video from the four installed cameras, enhancing driver visibility and driving precision in real time.

According to Redlight owner Christopher Hoffmeister, the driver in this video is an amateur comedian who occasionally does open mic night at a local comedy club. By surviving this harrowing and unprovoked shooting, he certainly has the last laugh.